Field
One or more exemplary embodiments relate to a device for transferring spent fuel between storage pools, and more particularly, to a device for transferring spent fuel to a designated location while maintaining a vertical orientation of the spent fuel within a refueling cavity.
Description of the Related Art
A general nuclear power plant has one spent fuel storage pool, taking into account a nuclear fuel storage capacity corresponding to twenty-years amount for each nuclear plant unit. In addition, during a planned maintenance period of a power plant, fuel is withdrawn from a nuclear reactor for examination and transferred in parallel from a containment building to a fuel handling area by a fuel transfer system provided in a refueling cavity, and then, the fuel is stored in a single storage pool through a gate adjacent to the refueling cavity by using a spent fuel handling machine.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 1, during the planned maintenance period of a power plant, the fuel in a nuclear reactor is transferred from a containment building 1 to a fuel handling area 2 by a fuel transfer system 3. The fuel transfer system 3 is provided in a refueling cavity 4. The fuel transfer system 3 moves along a guide rail 9. The fuel transferred to the nuclear fuel handling area 2 is transferred to and stored in a storage pool 6 via a gate 10 that is adjacent to the refueling cavity 4 by using a spent fuel handling machine 5. The spent fuel handling machine 5 moves along a rail 8.
The fuel transfer system 3 includes a fuel transfer tube 7 between the containment building 1 and the fuel handling area 2. In addition, a penetration sleeve bland flange and a gate valve are provided at opposite ends of the fuel transfer tube 7 for separating the containment building 1 and the fuel handling area 2. Also, complicated supplementary equipment such as an upender for standing or laying the transferred fuel, a hydraulic power units, a connection hose, a cable, and a proximity switch for checking connections states are included in the fuel transfer system 3.
However, there is a need to build a separate storage pool in addition to an existing storage pool corresponding to a twenty-year amount for each nuclear plant unit according to demands for increasing storage capacity when a new nuclear power plant is built. To do this, it is necessary to design a device for transferring fuel between a plurality of storage pools in water.